Atomic Layer Deposition in Water Splitting

Atomic Layer Deposition in Water Splittingadmin2019-08-29T18:15:29+03:00

Water Splitting

Water splitting technology is characterized by a process that uses a chemical reaction to separate water (H2O) into oxygen and hydrogen. Effective water splitting can be achieved using a number of different techniques including electrolysis, photosynthesis, photoeclectrochemical, photocatalytic, radiolysis, photobiological, and thermolysis. Highly conformal ALD has proven critical to optimize cell efficiencies as latest achievements have focused on the use of nanoparticles and thin film catalysts to split water at lower reaction temperatures. Economical and efficient water splitting is a critical component for hydrogen generation as an alternative energy source. Research in this field will investigate and test the feasibility of transitioning to a hydrogen economy.

Photo-oxidation of water

Atomic layer deposition techniques can be used to create high surface area structures for wafer splitting applications. The fabrication of high surface area conducting and transparent frameworks were developed for the photo-oxidation of water (water splitting).

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) films were deposited using the Exposure mode technique for ITO and Fe2O3 on inverse opal structures, to generate a high surface area nanostructure.

ALD Benefits for Water Splitting

Greenlight water oxidation via Ti substitution in Fe2O3

Ti alloying was used to improve ultrathin (6 nm thick) hematite conversion efficiencies, in particular the hole collection efficiency generated by green photons ( 500 – 600 nm). ALD device was used to deposit films of both TiO2 and Fe2O3 in this study.

We develop custom Atomic Layer Deposition tools and recipes. Our team has decades of experience in ALD science and technology with over 300 scientific journal and conference articles in the ALD area Read More